PACE hoarding group proves to be successful

Hoarding has become a high profile topic over the past few years. With the inclusion of Hoarding Disorder as a diagnosable mental illness in the most recent DSM 5, greater awareness and understanding has developed, although we have a long way to go. Many people with hoarding issues are living in secret, hidden by high fences and isolating themselves from the world.

Centacare has responded to the issue by implementing the structured 15 session, 20 week Buried in Treasures program for people with hoarding issues. So far we have completed 5 courses over the past 18 months and we are currently half way through the 6th. The program focuses on understanding why people hoard, the challenges they face and appropriate strategies to overcome the problem.

We are happy to report that, according to the self-report assessment that measures attendees’ overall clutter, difficulty discarding and the urge to acquire items, participants are showing a significant improvement across all areas. Using the Savings Inventory Rating scale, we’ve found that, on average, participants’ hoarding symptoms have decreased by 31.3% from a score of 59.9 to 45.6. To be deemed not to have a clinical problem, a participant’s overall score on the scale must be less than 40, so the participants are well on their way to recovery.